Government Run Gambling – Yet Another Example of Government Futility

Jun 15 2009 Published by admin under Good government

Lottery opponents have long argued that a state sponsored lottery is an awful way to raise revenues.  Besides the obvious moral arguments against taxing those who lack basic math skills (the odds of winning the powerball jackpot are 1 in 195,249,054), lotteries are are unreliable revenue stream and insert government into an area that was never even contemplated as a proper government function by our Founding Fathers.

Here in Oklahoma, the voters approved a state lottery in 2004.  Proponents of the lottery, including gubernatorial candidate Brad Henry claimed that the “education lottery” would raise as much as $350  million dollars annually.  However, the state run lottery has been a major disappointment since day one and has never raised anywhere near the $350 million dollar mark. In fact, the Oklahoma Lottery has never even met original projections by its own trustees and executive director that it would produce $150 million a year for education.

The Oklahoma Lottery is projected to earn $191.3 million for fiscal year 2009 which ends June 30th.  However, original estimates for this fiscal year called for lottery sales to total $208 million.  Earlier this month, Lottery trustees approved a 2010 budget that calls for $190.6 million in gaming revenue.  Lottery officials blame a sour economy and the launch of a new lottery in neighboring Arkansas for the lower figures.

But, should we really buy these excuses from Lottery officials?  Just days before the revised numbers and the 2010 budget were announced, several news sources reported that revenue from Indian gaming here in Oklahoma rose by double digits from the year before.

Figures released by the National Indian Gaming Commission at the start of this month, reveal that the two regions that include Oklahoma showed the strongest growth in gaming revenues. The Tulsa region, which includes eastern Oklahoma and Kansas, had an 18.2 percent rise in gaming revenue to nearly $1.7 billion.  And the Oklahoma City region, which includes western Oklahoma and Texas, increased 17.6 percent to $1.3 billion.

Whether you are for or against gambling, we all should agree that government run gambling is a lot like government run health care – it is inefficient, beyond the scope of government’s proper role, and incapable of competing with the private sector in making profits

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Legislative Report Card for 2009 Session

May 24 2009 Published by admin under State Legislature

The 2009 Legislative Session is over and its time to issue the report card.

In a year when coventional wisdom would say that the budget should dominate the headlines, the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate did a masterful job at diverting attention away from the budget (and the cuts) and keeping the focus on Republican agenda items like voter ID and tort reform.

Legislative budget leaders Rep. Ken Miller and Sen. Mike Johnson get high marks for putting together a budget that avoided dipping into the Rainy Day Fund and didn’t rely on fee increaes or raising taxes.

This was the year of the “R” – R for Republican leadership in the Seante for the first time in state history.  And R for Referendum, as Republicans repeatedly made an end run around Governor Henry’s veto pen by sending at least 5 high profile measures to a state-wide voter referendum.  Those include: limiting the terms of statewide elected officials, making English the state’s official language, voter ID requirements, requiring Senate confirmation of workers’ compensation judges, and declaring the state’s sovereign immunity under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The question left to be resolved is what impact will these referendums have on the other 2010 ballot items.  Most believe that they could really help the GOP, however, there is a legitimate concern that at least one or more of the referendums could lead to out of state, liberal special intetrest groups pouring money and resources in Oklahoma in 2010 to defeat them and in the process hurt Republicans that are on the ballot.

Reform was also on the agenda this session.  Major reforms were advanced in the areas of civil justice (lawsuits) and primary/secondary education.  These reforms were not easily passed, witha compromise reached on lawsuit or tort reform in the final days of session.  House Bill 1603, a comprehensive lawsuit reform passed with bi-partisan support and brings to an end years of battling bewtween the trial bar and the chambers of commerce and medical profession. The other major legal reform was the resolution previously mentioned sending to a vote of the people a requirement of Senate confirmation of workers’ compensation judges.

Republicans also passed reforms in the state’s education system.  Representative Jeff Hickman authored a new law allowing schools to calculate a school year in hours instead of days.   Hickman’s bill make its easier for schools to make up days students miss for bad weather – and avoid situations like the one we face this week where students return for two more days of school after Memorial Day.  Another education reform bill, Senate Bill 222 written by Senator Clark Jolley and Rep. Tad jones, provides transparency and accountability in the testing and ranking of student achievement.  It is a compromise bill to SB 1111, which was vetoed by Governor Henry. SB 222 establishes a task force which will compare Oklahoma’s standards with those of higher performing states and improve the rigor of higher performing students.

Speaker Chris Benge and House leaders ran a tight ship – normally the House has been the more volatile of the 2 chambers, but other than constant whining from House liberals on alledged House Rules infractions, the House was pretty tame compared to the Senate, where the Democrats got to experience for the first time in state history what life is like to be the minority party.

The Senate Democrats did not take being out of power too kindly and their frustration culminated on what was supposed to be the last day of Session when they tied up Senate Bill 980 (creating a Chief Information Officer to increase efficiency and better secure citizens’ private data from theft)for 4 hours and forced the Senate to come back the next week for a $12,000 extra day of session.

Pro-TemporeGlenn Coffee is to be commended for taking the heat from the opposition and charging ahead with his party’s agenda.  He spent a considerable amount of political capital, and in at least one case his captial came up short -his Resolution sending to a vote of the people a cap on attorney fees failed when 3 Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition to the bill, effectively killing it at least until after 2010.
“Needs Improvement”- House Republicans took the bait and let the Governor and the Flaming Lips get the better of them after the House failed to approve a resolution recognizing “Do You Realize” by the Lips as the state’s official rock song.  Some Republicans were upset that one of the band members wore a Communist hammer and sickle t-shirt to the Capitol and by the band’s lead singer dropping the “F-bomb” at a public ceremony naming an alley in Bricktown after them. So they didn’t pass the bill.   Anyone who knows the Lips could have seen what was coming. Governor Henry promptly signed an executive order recognizing the Flaming Lips’s song as the official rock song and signed it at a big ceremony at the Oklahoma History Center where all the state’s drive by media joined a hundred or so rock fans for a festivity/finger pointing at those “closed minded” Republicans. For a group that thrives on controversy and quirkiness, the Flaming Lips could not have asked for a better set up.

Final Comments - Normally the “off-year” sees less controversy than the election year session.  But this “off-year” was different.  There were plenty of fireworks and fodder for politicos and casual observers alike.  And hardly any of it involved the budget (perhaps that will change next year as the budget picture may worsen).  It leaves okiepundit.com to wonder, what will the Legislature do to top it next year?

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And Swine Flew . . . Tort Reform Compromise Reached at Capitol

May 16 2009 Published by admin under State Legislature

Primary House author Representative Daniel Sullivan

Primary House author Representative Daniel Sullivan

Senate Pro-Tempore Glenn Coffee, Primary Senate author

Senate Pro-Tempore Glenn Coffee, Primary Senate author

Following years of dedicated effort, House members today overwhelmingly passed comprehensive changes to the state’s civil justice system that represent an agreement with lawmakers, business advocates, doctors, mineral owners and trial lawyers.  Governor Brad Henry called the package “a strong piece of reform legislation” and “perhaps the most comprehensive tort bill in state history,” an indication that he will sign the bill after passage in the Senate this week.

The compromise bill is the culmination of years of work between lawmakers and stakeholders to find a way to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits in Oklahoma, without closing access to the courthouse.

Under the compromise, House Bill 1603 contains an assortment of reforms, including the following:

  • A cap on “pain and suffering” awards of $400,000 outside of exceptional circumstances.
  • Restricts court shopping in class-action lawsuits, and allows for attorney fees to be reviewed.
  • Requires an expert to certify that a professional negligence case has merit before it can proceed.
  • Summary Judgment – Adopted Federal Rules
  • Gun Manufacturers Liability Protection — Exempts gun manufacturers, distributors and sellers who “lawfully” manufacture, distribute or sell firearms from liability for “any injury suffered.” Does not exempt such firearms from product liability if appropriate.

As a practicing attorney, I know firsthand the tremendous cost and burden associated with litigation. And I join the overwhelming majority of Oklahoman’s who are disgusted with ridiculous lawsuits like the one filed just a couple of years ago against the State of Oklahoma by the teachers’ union (OEA) asking the court to make decision on how to spend government revenue. The reforms in House Bill 1603 pass the test because they are carefully crafted to reduce or eliminate frivolous lawsuits while not taking away our right to access the courts and to trial by jury that our Founding Fathers fought and died to preserve.

I have only one concern about HB 1603, that is the task force it sets up to figure out how the state will obtain a reinsurance policy to cover damages awarded to victims of medical malpractice in cases where the cap is lifted. The bill calls for the state (taxpayers) to purchase this reinsurance policy.

The reinsurance policy would pay up to $20 million a year to injured Oklahomans in exceptional circumstances of gross negligence or severe disfigurement. It is estimated such a policy would cost less than $1 million annually for the additional protection.

As a believer in limited government, I thinkn its wrong for the state to be spending tax money to be an insurance policy that will cover the professional negligence of bad doctors (or any other negligent party). After speaking with several legislators who tell me they too are dead set against speding tax dollars to buy such insurance, I will be keeping an very wide open set of eyes on this task force and all conservatives ought to also.

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Transparency – No We Can’t!

May 04 2009 Published by admin under Good government

smokefilledroom

One of Obama most oft repreated campaign promises was that he would provide transparency in his administration. Either Obama isn’t much of a leader or his top partisans here in Oklahoma must have a lot to hide – or maybe it’s both. Less than a year after Obama first pledged to be transparent, the AP reports today that Democratic Governor Brad Henry and the state’s lone Democrat in Congress, Dan Boren are refusing to share the names of those Oklahomans being recommended to President Barack Obama’s administration for federal posts.

In the past, the recommendation process has been open, with Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation sharing with the media the names they recommended to the President for the half a dozen or so federal posts here in Oklahoma. Rep. Boren’s and Governor Henry’s break from tradition to a more secretive apporach is not the only change in this process. In the past, federal appointees were recommended to the President by federal officials – i.e. members of the US House and the US Senate. But given that Oklahoma has only one Democrat in its federal delegation, Governor Henry has been enlisted. Although a little odd, the Governor’s involvement in the federal recommendation process is not nearly as eyebrow raising as the fact that both Henry and Boren are refusing to share with the media and the public any of the names, citing the state’s Open Records Act. But that law only applies to state jobs, not federal jobs, so it’s a bogus argument.

What do they have to hide? Are they hoping to slip a few Obama -style liberals under our noses? Frankly, given the lack of Democratic leadership here in Oklahoma, perhaps they are both trying to buy some time with the “open records” excuse so they can either find someone in the state, or more likely – import another Jim Roth-style liberal from somewhere else.

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